on the edge of the stars
by enemies2lovers
Summary: empress rey had wiped ben solo's memory, but when he got them back, he was furious


"You wiped my memory. How could you?" Ben recoils from the empress.

"I did what I had to do."

The only memories he had was when he first awoke at the empress' chambers. In her silk scarlet robes.  
Before he became a monster.  
Just like her.

She stands from the throne of the Empire and lays a hand on cheeks. He warms from her freezing touch.  
"I gave you the galaxy. A place to rule beside me. You have nothing. You _had_ nothing. Your parents abandoned you. You abandoned them."

He puts his palms over hers. Closes his eyes.  
"You ripped me of choice. Of my childhood." He says and grips her hand.

He looks up, his eyes burning. They were on equal height, standing a few stairs from the dais. He knows he is nothing. He's strong with the force but _choose_ not to be a Jedi.  
Just like his mother. He was an artist and a pilot like his father before him.

The empress, his Rey, tucks a rogue lock of hair. Sucks a breath. Sits.  
"I knew giving your memory back was a mistake."

Kylo Ren, the empress' consort, Supreme Leader and Emperor-Ben, his name was Ben, he remembers now.

"We are a dyad in the force, Ben." She says and crosses her bare legs, the black silk slipping to the side. "I nor you couldn't stop it. You and me, we are bound and we can't escape it."

Ever since he woke up as the Emperor, something awoke in him. He clenches his fist. He feels the irritation and dismissal rubbing off from Rey.

"You are stronger in the force now. My equal even." The Empress licks her lips.

"You made me fight-my friends. My family. The Resistance. In a mask. Kill my father. Slaughter my uncle."

His body shook from slight tremors. His memories rushed back like a broken dam.

"I did." She says with no hint of remorse.  
"You controlled me." He grinds his teeth.  
"Supreme Leader, you are addressing your Empress," She grips her saber, which was suddenly in her hand. "You were acting on your very own will and you very well know that."

Anger bubbles in the force and the air between them is charged.  
She is right. How damned right she is. They were quick to throw him away when he left. They took in Poe, the better child and he deserves them and they him.

"My queen." He bows his head. "But my memories, you had no right-"

He was transported back when he was still only Ben. A rogue pilot who had once no care for politics and galactic wars. The first time he met her.  
Strapped on an interrogation chamber.

"You still want to kill me." The voice was muffled, like it was underwater.

"I can't make you alive can I?" He shrugged, he abhorred that he got that quirk from his father. "But that happens when you're being hunted by a creature in a hood."

When the creature pulled it back, it was not a creature.  
His pupils dilated. He blinked. Looked her down.  
It was a woman. Of great power. Of great beauty. And great hair everyone would die to run their fingers in.

And she looked scary.

"Prince of Alderaan, you're my guest." She said in a voice like silk. "Tell me about the Resistance's plan."

"I know nothing of the sort. I am not with the Resistance."

She looked at him sideways, "Is that true?"

"You caught me, it was an outright lie. I _know everything_, Princess." He said, sarcasm dripping in his cool voice.

Her whole countenance darkened.

"I can hold you an asset against your parents."

He scoffed a grin. "Yeah. Let's do that."

"You know I can take _anything_ I want."

That he didn't doubt.

She stepped towards him. Lifted a gloved hand. Half curled her fingers.

Her hand hovering inches from his face, she said, "You're so lonely."

A breath hissed from Ben's lips as he struggled from the clutches of the force and the prodding in his mind. He was lonely. He only had his ship and his calligraphy paintbrushes. Nobody loved and cared for him. Nobody-

"At night so desperate to sleep."

His dreams. Her nightmares. A young girl abandoned on a dessert. Of a creature in a hood. A mask. A cross guard saber. A broken kyber.

She smiled, her dimples betrayed his entire existence. "Don't be afraid, I feel it too."

He was afraid. For the first time in his life, maybe he was.

"Darth Vader, he's the grandfather you never wanted."

Sweat broke over his forehead. He struggled to breathe. He fought against it.  
The force allowed him to see glimpses and feel the memories of this girl. An ocean. A sea of green. He hung onto something.

"And you-you're afraid you will suffer the same fate as Emperor Sheev," he choked out, "_Empress Rey._"

She withdrew her hand, wide-eyed, breaths coming in pants.

Her sigh brings him to the present.

"I took your memory because they used you against me. They tried to turn you into a weapon. They took all your memories of me and painted me as your enemy. Although you had no care for that and you were in pain. So much pain. I couldn't stand to see you that way," she touches her lips, "And I knew you've always wanted to take my hand." She stands. Takes his bare hand and pressed it into her heart.

"I took you. I took your pain away." The pain, his memories. "I did it for us. Call me selfish and savage, because I am. But only for you."

He feels the sincerity and truth of her words in the force.

"I never knew it was all I wanted. You. Me. Ruling the galaxy. No Jedi, no Sith. Just you," she breaths.

Just him. Them. Two that are and once one. The power that they have, only when they're together. Balance.  
He doesn't care anymore. He has power. He is needed. Loved, if he dare say it.  
His hands fully envelop hers, now warm with his touch. Brings them to his lips. Carries her to the throne.

"I'm sorry I doubted you, love. I believe in no one but you. In _this_. I regret nothing. If I had to everything over again I would." He says it so fiercely; he feels the heat between the force connecting them.

He sits on the throne on the edge of the stars, with her on his knees. Feels a stirring in the force. The empress takes his hand and lays it into her stomach.  
He looks at the empress with beaming eyes, tears threatening to flow.

"_She_\- will be the balance."

010220


End file.
